Okay, so I know it is taboo to bitch about your job on your blog, so I’ll try to keep names out of it for privacy’s sake. Since I graduated from college, even before then, I have always worked for small companies. For whatever reason, I had an obsession with working for the Pre-IPO, start-up companies. I don’t think I was turned onto it for the $$ at stake, but more for the environment. The freedom to have opportunities to be creative, move up the ladder, wear jeans to the office, attend raging parties til the wee hours of the morning and be told you can come in late the next day, think, breathe… So when my little start-up got eaten up by Jonah the Whale, I thought… okay. This is going to be okay. We’ll have more money to play with, more ability to get the job done, and more opportunities for growth. I couldn’t have been more wrong. We seem to have less money, less ability, and definitely no opportunity for growth. As a matter of fact my job went from a mixed bag of variety and experiences to something a monkey could do fairly easily. I seriously think I lose IQ points on a daily basis. What a disappointment! I can barely get out of my cube now without tripping over some red tape. Needless to say, about 50% of the employees that got our wee little company off the ground in the first place are no longer around. No more are the days of innovation and the “can-do” approach to everything our clients ask for. Everything now needs to be approved by someone at least two ranks up from you and usually, never gets approved so essentially, nothing ever gets done. Which brings me to another point- what’s up with the ranks? I now get to work with a girl, and by girl, I mean girl just graduated from high school, lives with mom and dad, and has never taken a college level course in her life who is suddenly outranking me? Or thinks she does? I can honestly say with every fiber of my being this makes me crazy. Did I seriously waste 40K and 5 years of busting my ass in college when I could’ve simply walked in the door, got a job and became an insta-manager? If that’s the case- I want my money back. Perhaps it is the notion of rank that makes us all crazy. The drive to be more important than what we might actually be. When I took time off to go get married and go on a honeymoon, for the first time in my career, I think my worth may have actually been known. I was shocked to find out that so many were lost without my vast administrative capabilities and my poor executive (ha! an oxymoron) was seriously up a crick. Luckily, to my group, this was a reminder of what the little people actually do, and how hard we work. Now, I don’t expect to someday be an executive, but I certainly hope that I will continue to have worth- whether I continue to be an executive assistant, or if I am actually by miracle of God able to make use of my marketing degree.
I am sitting here watching E! News Tuesday on the E channel. Why you ask? To be perfectly honest, I cannot even begin to explain my obsession with getting my Hollywood fix every day. My husband thinks I’m crazy, walks by rolls his eyes, and yes even watches it with me at times!! Why I should care what Jessica Simpson went shopping for or listening for Angelina’s bump alert? Especially since these people absolutely annoy the hell out of me. OH you poor famous people getting chased by the paparazzi. OH poor Gwyneth and her giant bikini bump and your bazillion dollar trip to Mexico. I think the only reason I can think of to watch this crap is because the stuff that goes on in the real world is just too depressing. I can only take a 1/2 hour of local death, murder, and robberies in a day. P.S. I chose this picture because I know how much my husband adores Ryan Seacrest HAHAHAH!!
As far as reality TV… oh boy. This really slays me. I actually started watching The Bachelor back when uber wealthy and adorable Andrew Firestone was on. I knew this crap couldn’t be real when he picked uber bitch Jen or whatever her name is to be his wife and of course she dumped him. THEN The Bachelor people actually gave her another chance on The Bachelorette and she dumped some other poor sucker! She wasted six weeks of my life. She gives women a bad name and I hope she stays single forever. Does this explain why I watch this stupid show? No. I absolutely love watching the chicks fight over a guy they’ve only known for 2 hours. I think it makes me feel better to know that I have never been that stupid or made that much of a desperate ass out of myself in my entire life. My other guilty pleasures include watching the C-list celebs make asses out of themselves by skating and dancing. I’m not certain what the point is yet other than the fact they suckered me in to watching their crap. The only one I have just cause to watch is American Idol. As a talented, singer/nobody myself, it gives me great joy to see how far these people can go. I love music and love great singing even more. I’ve even picked up the phone to vote!!! Among my personal favorites: Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken (yeah he’s a freak, but damn he can sing), Kimberley Locke, Diana DeGarmo, Bo Bice, and my all-time favorite to date, Carrie Underwood. A bunch of nobodys like me who love to sing with no hope of going anywhere outside of the shower with their voice and they have all made albums. Big round of applause for these worthy reality stars!!
Oh, I have to throw in one last comment… I REALLY despise that Dog the Bounty Hunter show. UUUUUUGH!!!!!! WTF? No more reality please! We’ve had enough!
Finally, this crazy week comes to a close.
I thought I should mention after my Valentine’s rant, that I did receive my flowers, delivered a day late, and dead. One of my lowest days yet this year and my sweet husband absolutely saved the day. I came home from work with my dead flowers in hand and sitting on the table was a gorgeous basket full of yellow and pink flowers with a card in it. It was so sweet of him to do something special. To top it off, I walked into my office and there laid a single long-stemmed red rose. Absolutely made my night. My advice to all? For Valentine’s Day, be creative, be thoughtful… don’t try and order flowers (especially from FTD.com) on the busiest flower day of the whole year.
Rant #2: Dental Hygiene. Okay, so I’ll admit, I was terrible about getting my teeth cleaned at the dentist for many years. I have good oral hygiene- I brush my teeth, floss, gargle… so I’m not quite sure how so many problems came up. In the past month I have had 4 fillings, 4 wisdom teeth surgically removed, and am now sitting here with a tooth infection that is by far worse than any injury I have ever endured. So I have to wonder, was it worth it to go through all this pain, when they weren’t bothering me? Would they have ever bothered me? I guess I’ll never know. So I’ll sit her on this fine Saturday, take my strong antibiotics and vicodin and dream about the day when I’ll be able to eat a meal without excruciating pain.
Rant #3: 2006 Baby Boom. Goodness gracious. Everyone around me is having babies. Or does it just seem that way because I want one so badly?
For this month’s Chick Flick Pick, me and the girls at work went to see Brokeback Mountain. We wanted to know what the Oscar buzz was all about and well, we were curious. You just never know about some of the arty favorites in the Oscars, they can somehow be… disturbing. This movie wasn’t disturbing at all. The character development was fantastic- they went from roughneck cowboys to men with feelings and a sensitivity like no other. Visually, it was a stunning movie- I wanted to head to Brokeback myself and go hiking and camping. For all those guys who are terrified of seeing this movie… For crying out loud. Suck it up, be a man, and go see this flick. There were only about 5 minutes out of the two hour movie that were barely even uncomfortable to watch. Heck, I even get a little embarrassed about watching a man and woman sex scene in a public movie theatre. Besides- how many opportunities would you have to see The Princess Diaries boobies? It was a story about love of course, but also about making difficult decisions during a time in history where homosexuality was not accepted. Just think- we have the new “You had me at hello” line in “I wish I knew how to quit you”. This is definitely one of the more important movies of our time- very well done and very well acted. 3 Cheers for this flick!
The History of Valentine’s Day
Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine.But who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday? The history of Valentine’s Day — and its patron saint — is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance…
To Find out more… http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/valentine/?page=history
Okay. My rant. As a kid, I used to love Valentine’s Day. Decorating an empty box of kleenex to get valentine’s and treats from all the other kids. Everyone felt special. Everyone felt loved. When you get older… that’s when the holiday gets dumb. Watching those who are all spoony (ha! Spoony is the Google Word of the Day!!!) get flowers, gifts, jewelry… UGH! Nothing worse than being single on Valentine’s Day. Then came Valentine’s Day in college. Goodness gracious. All about hitting the clubs and, well, hitting on anything male with 3 legs that will offer any sort of affection and usually settling for grinding on the dance floor with some sweaty, drunk pig. Then you meet the one and Valentine’s Day once again becomes this special, meaningful day- enormous flowers gigantic enough to take up your whole cubicle, fancy dinners, romantic gifts such as robes and slippers… Ahhhhh. I miss those days already!! Don’t get me wrong, I love being married, but let’s see what changed: we celebrated a day early so we wouldn’t have to deal with crowds, we went out to a much less expensive restaurant and used a gift certificate (the bill was a whopping $12), after that we went to Target where I purchased a new iron and ironing board pad, and then, retreated back to our palace to our separate locations to watch such exciting television as Skating with Celebrities, The Bachelor, and 24. We’ve only been married 4 months!!! I certainly hope it gets better with age or it is going to be a LONG 50 years of disappointing Valentine’s Days. Now today on the day, I am of course the one who didn’t get my flowers (that were supposed to be a surprise but my husband kept IM’ing me asking me if I got anything yet), and of course it is 40 minutes until I leave and I haven’t gotten crap. I’m not sure what’s making me feel worse- the fact that the surprise is ruined, that I have to watch every other married, engaged, spoken for woman in the office get their flowers, or knowing that I’m going home to watch American Idol and eat fajitas. I think it probably more to the fact that I have PMS!!! Stupid holiday.
I guess, rather than make such a big deal out of what is really a dumb day, I kinda wish my husband would randomly surprise me with flowers on an ordinary day. Not my birthday, not when we have a fight, not on Valentine’s Day, but just because. Now, I say that now, but of course I’ll be pissed if I don’t get something on Valentine’s Day! I’m such a hypocrite.
Perhaps this dumb day is a smart day- a day that teaches us to remember those we love whether it be your mom, your dad, your significant other or whomever. A day to recall childhood wonderment. A day to celebrate our family and friends who love us.
$80: A dozen red roses
$50: Dinner out on the town
$10: Valentine’s Day Cards
Saying “I Love You”: Priceless
So I went out with my crazy friend last night, and by crazy, I mean that in all sorts of ways. Nonetheless, I really haven’t been out since…. oh boy, before Christmas?? Between getting a cold, getting fillings in my teeth, then getting the flu, and THEN to cap it all off having my wisdom teeth surgically removed, I was totally due for a wild night out. After begging her to not make us spend the night listening to her boyfriends/fiance/whatever he is’ band play at a hoity toity lounge, we headed to our most favorite and long-loved dive bar. This place is a trip- truly one of the most diverse environments in the entire world with just about every race represented, every class represented, and seriously ever age group over the age of 21 represented. So, as you can imagine, the karaoke is… less than great. After getting packed like a sardine into this place, beer spilled on me, and knocked around we got our chance to sing. Ah yes, what is my only moment to sing for others… in a dive bar… with… drunk people telling me how great I am. Take what you can get right? So, if all these others are so awful, why on earth do we go and take part in this form of entertainment? I think those who truly suck are either 1) Really drunk or 2) It is their one bright and shining moment to pretend to be a star. In the age of American Idol, it is really amazing to listen to these people who really and truly think they are good and they are horrible!! What it comes down to is that it is actually entertaining watching others make a fool out of themselves. Thank goodness we are too drunk to really care who they are. I will always cherish my brief shining moments being able to sing, wishing I could find a better venue to share my best talent with the rest of the world.
From June 30, 2004 to October 15, 2005, I learned many things about myself, others, but most importantly about marriage. What do the dates represent? The date D and I got engaged to the day we got married. What I learned after, what I like to call, the ordeal of planning a wedding, is that in the end very little of it actually matters. What really matters is everything that happens after. Life. Love. Ups. Downs. In the beginning, I was frustrated by the small budget I had to work with, that I wouldn’t have a huge lavish party with my friends from kindergarten… Many tears were spilled. To our luck, we came into some extra money and ended up with a little more to work with. By this time however, I had a change of heart. An epiphany of sorts. I wanted to make this special… personal. I put up the picture of us lighting the unity candle because that is the message I want to convey. A wedding is more than an expensive dress, a fancy dinner with all the trimmings. It is the symbolic joining of two people into one. Every piece of music, to the wedding party gifts all conveyed that thanks and love that we share for each other, our family, and our friends. I knew that if I threw all my energy into this one “day”, that our marriage would never last. We’d never have anything else to look forward to.
I guess I was just thinking about all those girls out there who obsess about their wedding day and haven’t thought about all the other stuff and all of the other years of importance to follow after that. During my engagement I hung out on a slew of bride “message boards”. By the time my wedding was looming, I realized how very little I cared about the little things. I couldn’t wait to marry him and spend my life with this amazing person- that was all that mattered.
So for those out there who are obsessed with having a wedding, my advice to you, get passionate about the person you are going to marry. Your wedding is one day- a marriage is a lifetime.
http://journals.aol.com/jmchudzik0501/jojosponderings/
For my first rant, I just want to reference the link above. I formerly started a journal last September about planning a wedding, then decided to change it, THEN decided that I needed a different forum other than AOL (a rant for another day). Anyway, this is my continuation.
I have a ponder today about the Coretta Scott King funeral. Perhaps she would have enjoyed such heated political emotions and pageantry, but since WHEN are eulogies turned into political statements? Sure I agree that it is appropriate to discuss Coretta’s incredible contributions to the Civil Rights Movement, but for crying out loud, the criticizm that was so abundant at this funeral is exactly the type of thing she was fighting so much against. Can’t we all just get along???